The Ever Ragged Veil
by EngineerMK
Summary: What if you knew that there was something wrong with the world? What if you couldn't get away from what you discovered? The people who unravel the ragged veil of the norm are often consumed by the loose ends that they create
1. Chapter 1

The Ever Ragged Veil

Daylight poured into the post office through the picture windows. A thin man, of average height, with shaggy brown hair and glasses stood at one of the cheap steel/particleboard mail counters, sorting his mail. "Hmmmm, seems I may already be a winner..." he thought to himself, humorously as he tossed the gaudy envelope into the trash hole of the counter. "I wonder how many other people are winners today?" he mused, still grinning at the thought. He strolled away from the counter, leaving behind a clump of junk mail, holding the two envelops that had any meaning; one from his daughter, the other from his software publisher.

This man, by name of Raymond Morris, was an interesting sort of fellow. I suppose this is why you're reading this now instead of playing with the dog, doing your chores, or watching the raindrops slide down the window. You see, Ray is a man of extraordinary luck and a fair amount of talent. As far as the talent goes, he's always been good with computers. While he was in school he found he had a knack for making them do things and while he should have been spending quality time with his books in his shoebox of a dorm room (so that he could become another fine, upstanding corporate drone in some cubicle, somewhere unimportant), he was writing a program that he thought made a lot of sense. Other people, oddly enough, also thought his program made a lot of sense and (the part where the luck comes in) one of those people was the son of a media mogul who had a problem this program would solve to a tee.

A flurry of deals, lawyers, contracts, and blah, blah, blah later he found that he would never have to work another day in his life if it was, so, his desire. Long story short, so that I can get back to telling this story, he's kept himself busy with his hobbies ever since. One of those things that had kept him occupied, though not really an occupation, was trying to unlock the source of a feeling he'd always had; a sense that something was wrong in the world. While, we all know that the world is not all smiles and sunshine, this was something more. An underlying "something" that gnawed at his soul and broke into his waking thoughts, on occasion, but was usually more of a sense about a place or person, passed on the street. Something he had begun to listen to more strongly since the night his wife, Kelly, was taken from him.

Kell was in law enforcement and her killer was a revolving door felon. His rap sheet could stretch around the precinct and he really didn't want to go back to jail for the burglary he was committing that night. Kell always wore her vest but the punk was aiming for her head, he missed and she got shot through the throat. While she choked on the warm life pouring out of her arteries, two of her hollow points found a new home in his shoulder and leg. That night Raymond had a feeling of dread in his heart and with good reason. Officer Morris left her husband and daughter, Alice, behind and her killer lived on for six more years of courtroom appeals until he slipped away, peacefully, by order of the state. Raymond, not being a cold man, mourned with his daughter for, what seemed like, an eternity. For almost a year he could barely do anything else. One day, near the anniversary of her death, he began to think about his premonition. The feeling had often returned to him, but he would push it out of his thoughts whenever it appeared. It dawned on him one morning that, maybe something was trying to tell him what he had suspected for years; that the world was truly not what it seemed. His search for the truth began there; now let's go back to the post office, he's just about to leave.

Raymond unlocked the door of his silver 2000 Mercury Cougar. He fired up the engine and flipped on the radio. With a familiar song in his ear, he drove; casually back to his new home on Highland Way. The neighborhood was clean and people kept their homes maintained. With many a Labrador in the manicured yards, it was a perfect picture of yuppie suburbia. He hit the button on his garage door and the motor began its labor saving duties. Walking through the house, he arrived at a heavy door, which, curiously enough had two dead bolts restricting its access. Quickly unlocking the door, he passed through the portal and shut the locks behind him. The room was bathed in the dull glow from a computer terminal situated in the center of a mass of materials. The very walls of the room were papered with newspaper articles, coded documents, and notes scrawled on scraps of paper. The Floor was piled with notebooks and documents of his research. Sitting now, at his computer, with Alice's' letter in his hand, he gingerly opened it and slid out an optical disk and a hand written note. "Here is the data, please be careful, Love Alice", was all that the note said; the disk said much more.


	2. Chapter 2

The night was illuminated by a bright, full moon. The pine trees of the woods sheltered a band of three, sitting about a camp fire and gazing into the flames. One was an old man, wrinkled and toughened with time and gritty with the experience of one, who's known a tough life. One was a teen who, until now, had never been out on a camping trip like this one. Far from a campground, without a tent or supplies, he thought it was crazy but trusted in the experience of his elders. The third was the boy's father, though not yet middle-aged, had an aura of wisdom that seemed beyond his years. They sat in silence for a while; then the old man stretched and yawned.

"Yaaaaawwwwnn. Waiting is something that I've never liked. I'm starting to get sleepy", he said with a false gruffness.

"What are we waiting for, Grandpa?" asked the teen.

"You're Grandfather is just getting too old for this sort of thing, Kale." said the boy's father with a playful smirk, to the old man.

"Hush, Boy. I've been at this since before you were in diapers! I'm not about to let someone as green as you are alone on one of these trips.", the old man jabbed back with humor in his voice.

"I still don't understand why we hiked all the way out here and didn't bring any supplies. Is this some sort of survival trip or something?" Kale asked with questioning defiance. The two men looked at the youth with thoughtful eyes and neutral expressions.

Growing more serious, the older man began, in a hushed tone, as he leaned in closer to the youth, "We are here because of a visitation I have recently received. In a dream, the elder spirit of our family came to me and told me that your time was near. It said to me, 'go to the gathering place before the summer moot and usher in the new cubs' first change', so here we are." The old man resumed his former sitting position and the three sat in silence for a while.

Thinking he was among the insane, Kale ventured, "I don't understand what you just said, Grandpa; Elder Spirit and First Change, What does any of that mean?" His grandfather looked at him from across the dancing flames.

"I imagine that you'll understand in a little while", said his grandfather with a devilish grin.

Silence around the campfire again. Kale shifted uneasily, as the wind began to blow gently. The fire burned hotter in the breeze and the embers crackled with the heat. In the distance the silence was broken by the cry of a wolf. Kale turned to his elders, unsure of the creatures' presence and found crazy looks spreading across their faces and fire blazing in their eyes. Surprised at their expressions, he shot up off the ground and leapt back several feet from the fire.

"Don't be afraid, Kale", his father said with crazed confidence, "Just go along with what's in your heart."

Kale turned to run from the madness that he now felt surrounding him. As he turned to bolt, fearsome wolves, some of enormous proportions, began emerging from the darkness all around the edges of the fires' glow. They growled and yipped excitedly, some even seemed to smile. Whirling around, he found that his elders had vanished into the night. The wolves had ceased their sounds and a thick silence ensued. The wind blew stronger, the fire cracked and spat, and a rustle of trees arose all around him. The wolves watched him, silent and still, and he found himself strangely unafraid. A heavy, ethereal presence seemed to desend from the trees and a low groan could be heard, over the rushes in the trees, from the pack; as a howl from an old wolf began to rise from the silence. Another joined the in, and then another, and another, still. Growing louder and louder a chorus of wild voices filled the rushing night air.

The hair on Kales' body was standing on end as he listened to them sing and a feeling began to build in his chest. A surge of strength shot through his body as new impressions and feelings began to emerge. The night air carried a new meaning, a crisp, intense flavor. The chorus around him took on a message and, as the voices became clear, the most beautiful song could be divined from the wolves, singing the tune with audible lyrics. He ripped out of his skin, then, becoming another and tore off his old clothes. Throwing back his head, he emptied his lungs and shattered the song with a roar of primal ferocity. Underneath the full moon and the dancing stars, the fire died and the woods became deathly quiet.

The rays of dawn broke over the horizon and slowly lit the land. As the light filtered through the dense trees, Kale began to see the dark shapes that surrounded him more clearly. His half sister, whom he'd never before met, stirred and looked to him. As they moved, the rest of the pack began to wake. The time was near for the summer gathering, the moot, to begin. He was among the other part of his family now, the missing half of himself that he was always, secretly, longing to learn about. Alpha "wuffed" and puffed out his fur, asserting himself. He signified that it was time to move. The pack stalked quietly through the forest hinterland. As they journeyed, others came to journey with them. By the fall of night, they had reached the gathering place, a strange and magical forrest glade, and the party began.


	3. Chapter 3

Morning light hung over the street as a cool breeze blew through the open seating area of the little café. The doors had no sooner opened than a slender woman in black seated herself at one of the more central tables. She ordered a coffee and waited. Within a few minutes a young woman wearing neutral business attire approached the table where the slender figure sipped on a steaming mug and greeted the newcomer with a smile.

"Thank you for meeting with me again, Alice," Said the woman in black, cheerfully.

"It's me that should be thanking you. That data you helped me find should be just the thing my department needs to expose this company for what they really are." Alice began to notice a grim undertone attempting, desperately, to be hidden by her contact's smile. "Is something wrong?" Alice was concerned by the unusual vibe that she was feeling from her acquaintance.

"Alice, there's something that you need to know." Alice blinked. Awaiting bad news is never something that she enjoyed. The woman in black looked her in the eyes and continued, "Our meeting at that computer crimes seminar was no accident; I planned, very specifically, to run into you." Alice's expressions flashed from concern to the practiced stonewall of a professional poker player.

"Such careful planning suggests a motive, so if you're not a disgruntled Pentex employee, who are you and why did you help us in our investigation?" The woman in black looked back down at her cup.

"Please, don't question the source, I want to see Pentex out of business as much as you do and I thought I'd help your father in his search for closure, as well." With hidden shock at the mention of her father, Alice looked at the woman in black for a sign of a lie, but found none.

"How do you know that my father is unofficially helping my department in this investigation?" The woman in black, staring into her cup, spoke in a hushed tone,

"There are things hidden in this world that exist along side the normal, every day people. These things would rather stay hidden and when they get revealed, bad things usually happen to those who expose them." Alice sensed that she was no longer the one "in the know", at the table.

"Most of the information on that disk you gave me points to hidden transactions and fronts for illegal operations, are you saying that there's something more at work here than a crime ring?"

No longer trying to hide her heart behind a pleasant demeanor, the woman in black said, coldly, "Oh, yes. Something more horrible than the most murderous of men lies at the heart of that company and even though you don't yet realize it, you may begin to bring it into the light, where it does not want to be." Alice was beginning to feel frustrated by the riddles her contact was speaking.

"You still haven't answered about my father. How did you know he was involved?" She asked forcefully. The woman in black looked, with scorn free pity, across the café table into Alice's eyes.

"Your father, for all his good intentions and disconnection, may be at the greatest of risk. Officials can be bribed, sleepers in your agency can destroy files, and those shell companies can be dismantled over night; but your father is a lone individual with immense talent and a driving need to know the truth. For all that, he may be a target." Alice was beginning to get a sinking feeling as she remembered where her father's interests lay in his hobbies.

"Why would you say he's a target?" The woman in black leaned a little closer to Alice.

Locking with her eyes, she spoke in a near whisper, "Because, he's someone who noticed them, and they noticed that he noticed. Now he's becoming a problem for them and they have the resources to take care of this kind of problem, very easily." Alice was sure she was worried, now.

"My god, are you saying that Pentex has that much power?" Leaning back, the woman in black grinned sarcastically.

She spoke in a harsh and markedly different tone, "Of course not, silly girl. We stopped talking about Pentex at least two minutes ago. Now we're talking about the thing that uses Pentex as a front to further its goals and you're just too blind to see it for what it really is." Alice was stunned, there was more to all of this than was visible to casual observation. Even this contact had more going on than she had first appeared. The woman in black shifted back to a more concerned, thoughtful expression and returned to looking, deeply, into the cooling coffee cup she held. "Alice, you should go now, please watch out for yourself and warn your father. I'll try to do all that I can to keep you and your father safe, but I can't make any promises."

Alice got up to leave, saying, "Don't worry, I can take care of myself and my father is not a fool either."

As she began to walk away, the woman in black called after her, "If I find out anything more I'll contact you, take care."

From behind the woman in black, a voice at another table asked, "What kind of game are you playing at this time, Ring-of-Stars?" The woman in black didn't turn to the speaker and continued her coffee vigil.

"I didn't see you come in." She said to the short man in the dark suit at the table behind her. "Neither did anyone else," he said pointedly, "but that doesn't answer my question. What do you hope to accomplish by using the government against Pentex?" Ramona, the woman in black, placed a ten dollar bill on the table under her empty cup. She carefully addressed the question.

"In order to drive the corruption in the world out into the open, you need to get it to reveal itself. When the agents of the Wyrm begin to move we will see where they hide and have a chance to move against them." The mystery man thought about what she had said.

"That does seem to be a good way to go about it, but remember that the ends shouldn't justify the means, so please keep your promise and protect the ones involved. I'd hate to have to reveal your continued existence to your enemies because one of your plots to bring them down resulted in more innocent blood being spilled." Ramona was angry, but knew he was right.

For all her power, he had her by the tail. In a false humor, she asked, "Watcher-of-Shadows, you're just about the worst friend anyone could have, do you know that?"

He chuckled, "And you're just about the most entertaining plaything I've found in a long time. So keep the collateral damage to a minimum, I'd hate to have to tell a few choice former employees of yours exactly where they could find you." Ramona spun around to protest, to attack, but found nothing more than an empty chair at the table behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

"Who the hell does he think he is?" Ramona thought to herself as she stormed away from the café. As far as she was concerned, as soon as it was possible she would find a way to dispose of this troublesome coyote, but now she had no choice but to see to it that he had no reason to blow her 'I'm dead' act. She thought back to the last time she had seen the worst monster Watcher-Of-Shadows could sic on her. His name was Ze'v, when she employed him, but she was sure that it wasn't his name when he was alive. Like most others she came into contact with she never revealed her identity to him, but, like her, Ze'v was very resourceful.

Ze'v began his career in the United States working as an intelligence agent for one of Chicago's more important vampires. Ze'v served this kindred under orders given by his master and mentor, but when his employer was destroyed he became a freelance agent of the underworld. He worked for some other kindred and even some humans, but when Ramona learned of him, she had to have him for an operation against DNA Incorporated. Their research was involved, publicly, in the treatment of genetic diseases. Their research also involved their unfortunate discovery of werefolk and their treatment of individuals so infected; as if their condition was something to be cured.

Ramona planned to buy the holdings of the company in order to stop the research, but DNA would never sell unless they suffered an enormous loss; that's where Ze'v came in. Ramona called him, with a number supplied by one of her contacts, under an assumed identity. Ze'v agreed to take the contract and laid down his terms clearly; half his pay up front, along with the equipment necessary for the job. As she gave the order to send the equipment he had asked for, Ramona was sure she was about to end the threat of a genetic holocaust against all shifters. The nightmarish situation she unleashed was something that she still kicked herself for not anticipating.

Ze'v carried out the mission, but not in the way she wanted. She had instructed him to destroy their research, but instead, he burned their headquarters to the ground. She watched the news report, that night, with shock and anger, as everything she would have had control over went up in smoke. She thought back to that night and the conversation she had with him: "I hired you to perform a surgical operation, you stupid bastard, not destroy the company"  
"I did as you asked, "spider-queen", the records were destroyed; you didn't say how you wanted it done"  
"Shut up, do you realize that I wanted that company after you were done? What is there for me now? What am I going to do now? They were still valuable to me"  
"Well, their research is still valuable to some associates of mine"  
"...What"  
"Yes, their research into the "Cure" for lycanthropy, I decided to read those files that you wanted erased before I deleted them and I've decided that they were far too valuable to just destroy"  
"Gasp"  
"Yes, I thought that would shut you up. You thought you were buying an idiot, didn't you? Your deception has earned your death, as well as the death of all your kind, you disgusting wretch"  
"You'll never get away with this, I'm going to stop you from getting that data to anyone who could use it for anything, you fucking corpse, and when I find you, you're going to be fucking ashes"  
"Brave words for a dieing species, they may have meant something, too, if I hadn't already sent a copy of the data to some inquiring minds. Rest assured, the data will be used to its greatest potential"  
"You monster, I'm still going to destroy you"  
"Well, as you may know, this is a mobile phone I'm having this delightful conversation with you on and since you have put forward such an intriguing challenge, let's see if you can back up the threat"

Ramona shuttered as she walked toward her car. She remembered hearing a cell phone hit the ground, somewhere in her office that night, and had just enough time to turn around to meet his first blows. If it hadn't been for her other employees' intervention, that would have been the end for her. She slammed the door on the coup as she thought of how helpless she had been. How slowly she reacted to his attacks. Perhaps, worst of all, her underlings coming to her rescue stuck out in her mind. Ramona wasn't the type to need a rescue and she burned as she thought about being in need of help; how they found her in a pool of her blood, barely clinging to life. She shifted into gear and sped toward the building she was renting, across town. It was time to make a plan; time to try and end her laundry list of problems.


	5. Chapter 5

Dawns' light filtered through the blinds of Raymond's home. The reinforced door of Raymonds' private study began to click as the locking bolts were thrown open and the door opened slowly. Looking tired and worried, Raymond made way for the kitchen in a stumbling staggering fashion. In his hand was a new disk, filled with his discoveries from a night of searching through data and cracking the databases of the dark empire that was Pentex. That very disk now contained, he was sure, the evidence the Feds needed to shut down their operations.

Raymond began the makings of a pot of coffee. He couldn't afford to rest a moment until the disk was safely in the hands of his daughter. He was sure that every moment he held on to it, he was in danger as well. As he poured the coffee, he was brought to full alert with the sudden noise of a crash at his front door and heavy footsteps pounding into his home. Raymonds' heart pumped ice water as he snatched the disk from the kitchen table and dashed for the bedroom. He slammed the door and shoved the dresser in front of it, the best he could. He heard one set of foot steps in the hall moving, with impossible speed, toward him as he hastily loaded the .357 Magnum Revolver he kept in his bedside drawer.

With a single, terrible show of unnatural strength; the intruder shattered the door and sent the dresser flying across the room. Raymond turned, intending to fire, and was paused in mid action by the horror that confronted him. The intruder was roughly human in shape, but its features were distorted to grotesque and sickening proportions. Its eyes bulged and its skin was a yellowish-white. As it stood there, its flesh crawled and writhed of its own accord. It moved with a sharp, jerkey motion and pointed a pale finger at him. As the creature spoke, it was as if a hundred tiny, raspy mouths spoke in unison. "You, human! Give us the disk or we kill you and take it.", said the monster, in its slimy chorus.

Hesitating, no longer, Raymond opened fire on the creature; striking it with several direct hits from his magnum. The wounds didn't seem to have any effect and the monster smiled with its thin, crawling lips; as an evil fire seemed to burn in its bulging eyes. The monster began to lunge at him, but much to their surprise, a new set of running feat came dashing down the hallway. The monster twisted around to meet the new threat and was quickly cleaved in two by the falling blade of a large sword. The creature let out a sickening scream as it fell to the ground. A plague of insects poured from its empty flesh as the top half of the beast used its hands as legs to spring from where it fell to the nearest window. It crashed through the glass like a bullet and was gone; leaving behind a string of choice curse words to the meddler with the sword and a writhing stream of bugs. The legs fell dead to the ground. As they lay there, a stream of pests poured from them and the smell of horrible rotten flesh filled the house.

As Raymond beheld his savior, he saw that he was a slight young man of about age twenty-five. He wore a duster jacket and held a large two handed sword. Under his jacked, in tactical holsters, were two large semi-automatic handguns finished in brushed nickel. Raymond lowered his pistol and tried to collect his wits. He decided one of them should speak so he began.  
"Oh God, what was that thing"  
"Are ya' Mr. Morris"  
"What? Uh, yes I am"  
"Good, ya' need to come wit' me; there'll be more of thes' things when that half-a-creep that got away reports back ta' whoeva' sent it"  
"Who are you"  
"There'll be time for introductions later; right now we gotta' get out'a here"  
"I'm not going anywhere, I'm calling the police"  
"Look, Morris, if you call the police you'll just end up in jail. Ya' just fired a weapon with reckless disregard, ya' have materials in yas' home linking ya' to the blackest projects ever conducted, and yer in a'irrational state a'mind"  
"I did not fire a weapon with disregard, I was defending myself from an intruder"  
"Ya' mean the intruder wit' no blood that jumped through ya' window after ya' shot it six times"  
"What...I...half the body is right there"

Feeling a crawling chill run down his spine, he looked upon the body of the monster. The bugs it had contained had begun consuming their former masters' husk. By the time any police arrived, it was obvious, that there would be no evidence of any intruder at all; just him, holding a gun, with two shattered doors, a broken window, a ruined dresser, and six bullet holes in the wall. It looked completely crazy and he knew this man, whoever he was, was right.

"Mr. Morris, please be reasonable. My employer knows what ya' done and wants to help ya' bring down Pentex, but you can't do that from a psyche ward, so let's get out'a here 'fore anyone gets wise to call the police about the gun battle ya' just waged"  
After a difficult pause and some mental struggle, all that Raymond Morris could find words to say was, "...Let me get my coat."


End file.
